Anyone who thinks Donald Trump is now a lame duck president does so at their own peril.
asserted
Trump → think → peril
Americans who previously supported Trump have launched a comprehensive protest against the way he has run the country.
asserted
he → support → country
The anger and disillusionment felt by many from the president's Republican Party have been echoed in states that have long been GOP strongholds.
asserted
that → feel → states
North Carolina, South Carolina both turned blue.
asserted
Carolina → turn → ?
Texas sent its first Democratic senator to Washington DC in almost 40 years.
asserted
Texas → send → years
In Kansas, the Democrats win rewrote almost a century of history.
asserted
win → rewrite → history
For much of his political career Trump has had a Midas touch.
asserted
Trump → have → touch
You don't get to be president of the United States twice if you cannot read the mood of Americans.
asserted
you → get → Americans
But these midterm results show he has lost that touch.
asserted
he → show → touch
Nothing exemplified that better than Trump's final speech before voting began.
asserted
voting → exemplify → speech
The president stood by the reflecting pool in Washington DC and rambled about the renovations he had done on it.
asserted
he → stand → it
At a time when millions of working-class Americans are feeling the crushing cost of petrol, which in some states has doubled, Trump declared he had beautified the nation's capital and improved the lawn at the White House.
asserted
he → feel → House
It was a tone-deaf speech that would have said to many Americans that this is a man whose political judgement has peaked.
asserted
judgement → say → Americans
Trump has often laughed and mocked what he said were the failing cognitive abilities of his predecessor Joe Biden.
asserted
he → laugh → predecessor
Was this reflecting-pool speech Trump's "Joe Biden moment"?
asserted
speech → reflect → ?
One of the best indicators that Trump has lost his political touch is that many of the candidates who lost were hand-picked by him.
asserted
who → lose → him
In Texas the Republicans had a popular senator, John Cornyn.
asserted
Republicans → have → senator
But Trump was outraged that even though Cornyn supported him frequently, he chose to vote against some of his initiatives.
asserted
he → outrage → initiatives
And so Trump decided to target Cornyn and replace him with Ken Paxton, the state's long-time attorney-general, who was well known but weighed down by multiple scandals.
asserted
who → decide → scandals
As a result, the Republicans and Elon Musk (the world's richest man, who has relocated some of his empire to Texas) pumped as much as US$350 million ($500 million) to try to save Paxton.
asserted
who → relocate → Paxton
They made it the most expensive Senate race in US history.
asserted
it → make → history
And they lost.
asserted
they → lose → ?
It was instructive that for all the money and power of Trump, Musk and the Republican Party, a 37-year-old Presbyterian seminarian and former school teacher James Talarico came out on top.
asserted
It → come → top
Money often talks in America, but the Talarico case suggests there is a limit.
uncertain
case → talk → America
All the money spent trying to keep Paxton afloat was not able to be spent in other seats where the Republicans had a better chance.
asserted
Republicans → spend → chance
The Republican debacle is not to say that Trump has lost power.
asserted
Trump → say → power
He still has two years in the White House.
asserted
He → have → House
Many Democrats are now openly expressing their claim that the result of these midterms indicates Trump has become a lame-duck president.
uncertain
Trump → express → midterms
He remains the commander-in-chief of the most powerful military in human history.
asserted
He → remain → history
The danger of this result is that Trump will feel wounded and humiliated.
asserted
Trump → feel → result
The world saw the consequences of a wounded and humiliated Trump after the 2020 election, when he claimed he had lost because of widespread fraud and cheating.
asserted
he → see → fraud
Many of his supporters decided to take the law into their own hands and storm the US Capitol in what has become an infamous stain on the country's democracy.
asserted
what → decide → democracy
With this result, America could enter dangerous days.
uncertain
America → enter → days
Trump may accept defeat gracefully, although he does not often do that.
uncertain
he → accept → that
Even if he does, he can circumvent one or both houses of Congress by simply signing executive orders.
asserted
he → do → orders
Those orders may be challenged months later in the courts, but in the meantime Trump will be able to circumvent Congress.
uncertain
Trump → challenge → Congress
The real danger of a wounded and humiliated Donald Trump will be in foreign policy.
asserted
danger → wound → policy
He has already intervened in Iran, ordered his military to capture Venezuela's president and and up-ended his country's foreign policy traditions by bringing it closer to Russia.
asserted
He → intervene → Russia
He may decide that he has nothing to lose when it comes to dealing with Iran, or another country he has often talked about intervening in, Cuba.
uncertain
he → decide → Iran
American democracy has spoken.
asserted
democracy → speak → ?
…and 1 more, not listed.
The Aporia
